


The Spider

by luvsanime02



Series: Spooktober 2019 [15]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Identity Issues, Introspection, Spooktober 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-15
Updated: 2019-10-15
Packaged: 2020-12-16 22:17:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21043688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luvsanime02/pseuds/luvsanime02
Summary: Natasha is known as the Black Widow, but that doesn't mean she's especially fond of spiders.





	The Spider

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the October 15th Spooktober prompt: spider.

**Disclaimer: ** I don’t own Marvel comics or characters or movies, and am making no money off of this fic.

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**The Spider** by luvsanime02

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For all that Natasha is known as the Black Widow, she doesn’t like spiders. She’s not afraid of them - Natasha’s not afraid of much, and even then, it’s more like a cautious sort of wariness. The closest she’s ever felt to real fear was when she first encountered the Winter Soldier.

Spiders, though, can sometimes kill, but most species are actually harmless to humans. They go about their own business - eating small bugs and spinning or digging webs - and then procreate and end their lives.

Not that Natasha has any problems with the idea of living a simple life. It’s not for her, and she frankly wouldn’t even know where to begin with the idea, but she doesn’t dislike people whose lives are uncomplicated. That’s their choice.

Natasha’s dislike of spiders stems entirely from the fact that she has always been equated to them. Cold-blooded, aloof, always on the prowl for her next victim. Being compared to a spider is not a compliment, even when the specific species is venomous. It’s not even the negative associations with being a femme fatale that bothers her. Natasha uses her sexuality as a weapon, and she has no problems with admitting that. It works, always, and so she uses it.

Natasha can be all of those things, of course. But she can be so much more, as well. Being compared only to a spider is confining. Constricting. Spiders only live and die. Natasha wants to be so much more than what she was made to be.

The Black Widow isn’t even her choice, not really. Natasha didn’t ask for that name, any more than she asked for Natalia. They were both chosen for her as gifts. Some might call them that, anyway. Being called the Black Widow by everyone from Fury to the new S.H.I.E.L.D. interns (but not Clint - never Clint) is something that Natasha has long-since grown used to, but that doesn’t mean that she approves.

Some days, she does. Some days, it’s so much easier to hide behind that persona, but it’s still just a mask like any other. Natasha is the Black Widow, but that’s also a face that she can discard as easily as breathing. Natasha can be anyone and everyone that she wants to be. It’s her specialty.

Maybe that’s why Natasha dislikes spiders so much. They’re stuck in their roles. They have no freedom - to choose or change. Natasha appreciates her freedom, and she doesn’t take kindly to anyone trying to take it from her. It’s something that she’s fought for, literally, and isn’t going to give up anytime soon. Or ever.

Spiders represent Natasha’s past - the good and bad parts. She acknowledges that those pieces are in her still, but she also understands that she’s so much more than that, now.

Natasha’s the Black Widow, but spiders only do one thing with their lives. She wants to be someone else. As much as she identifies with spiders sometimes, Natasha can be so much more, and she’d like that to be acknowledged by everyone else, too.


End file.
